Match Fixing, and conspiracy theories....Ohhh No...Not again

YoYo
The spectre of match fixing has raised its ugly head again and left me in a depressed mood.I am a die hard cricket fan.Cricket is my nasha,my passion and no doubt one of my motivators.A good performance by the Men in Blue raises my self confidence a few notches,a defeat often signals the start of a dreary, lackluster day or even a couple of them and god forbid more than that.

Over a period of time, I have tamed down a little bit, but only just.(What this really means is that I no longer follow Zim. V/s Aus or Bangladesh V/s SL types of tests, or the fortunes of a hopelessly dull Maharashtra Ranji team, wherein the only point of interest is whether Hayden hits a qaurter ton a la Lara or whether Murali ends up with 20 wickets in the test instead of his customary 15).

Perhaps this is why I am deeply troubled and hurt everytime someone mentions, as casually as he were telling a joke, "Are Sujya. Matches fixed ahet bahutek, nahitar aapan itka bhari kheluch shakat nahi".Not only does it send me in the "I am angry and pissed of zone" it also makes me wonder if the person making these allegations had the brain size of a intelligent pea.

It is terribly unfair for the 11 guys out there in the middle to say the least.I mean c,mmon.I was especially incensed and infuriated when I heard these allegations during the recent Indo-Pak series.Here we were, going to our bugbears after 15 years, with only Tendlya having played in Pak before, carrying a young team, with not only cricket matches to win but also hearts (Ref : Atal jees statement, "Matches hi nahi, Dil bhi jeet lo").When they actually started winning the Conspiracy theorists were out with knives.Games have been predecied at the highest political levels so as to benefit both governments.

Oh really and of course Pervej Mias cook has told u that or perhaps Ataljees secretary sent u a phone call one fine morning.Given the efforts that our team put in the oneday and test games, I am willing tp bet my bottom Dollar (There aint too much of them anyway :-D) that we won Fair and Square.We played better cricket on most days, and wanted to win more badly than Pakistan. Hence the result.Of the 2 one day games we lost, one of them was on a green top where our batsmen were caught naping.Good bowling form Pak was responsible for our defeat and similar was the case in the 2nd test when Umar Gul ripped thro our line up again on a helpful track.Of the games we won, the 4th oneday was due to a stunning partnershipo between Kaif and Dravid.The first one day we won by keeping our cool, and the 5th was due to a amazing boundary catch by tendlya. A test was won on the back of a glorious triple ton by Viru. and of course the Wall was infallible in the 3rd one.

The point I am trying to make above is that when either team has won, it has been on the strength of some briliant performances supported by team efforts.Such moments occur rarely in sport and until recently very rarely in Indian sport.We should appreciate the heroics of these players rather than question their attitudes and trying to weave dream theories about their hidedn motives.

Dadas boyz, I dare say are a clean bunch.In colloqoial (spelling correct ?? marathi "Aapla phool support ahe aaplya team la"